Every so often, RedBall visits a site that challenges it visually, physically, and intellectually. While most of RedBall’s sites do this, the Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts met RedBall with the direct challenge of being within the context of a rich arts ambiance, which is infrequent for the project. Architecturally, the geometric shape of the sphere worked well, situated comfortably within the open overhead space above Sainsbury’s below-ground museum shop and balancing against a spiral staircase. The horizontal panels on the interior of this early Norman Fosters building provide a stark, yet fittingly modern landscape for RedBall’s prominent placement just inside the entrance. This quite modern rectilinear building was placed within the lush green terrain of the University of East Anglia, which invited many picnics on this warm day.
Placement of RedBall itself was unusual, as it needed to be inflated while it was hanging within the stairwell. It was rigged by the festival crew and then was slowly settled and secured in place. Once it was installed, the rest of the day began with curious visitors who had come to see the Sainsbury’s expansive collection in fine and decorative arts–not expecting the ball at all! Their observations were quite, no touching. They were polite and didn’t reserve their delight upon the surprise of seeing the piece just sitting ever-so-delicately on top of a massive opening in the main floor. The tide of people soon shifted to those who had come just to see the ball, bringing with them their thoughts and opinions about how this site compared with the other sites.
At this point in the project with three sites left, there were many visitors who felt the need to recap their experience with the piece to date, using the final three upcoming sites (Norwich Castle, St. Gregory’s Alley and Norwich Cathedral) as the final testament to what to they feel has been a meaningful exploration of their own city. One story recounted a particular site, York’s Alley: the visitor had not been through that alley in nearly forty years, and until he was reintroduced to it, he did not realize the emotional attachments that could be made with architectural spaces. He had literally relived a childhood memory that he had not revisted in a long time.
The night ended with multiple activities for Sainsbury’s museum at night late opening. Amongst the music, open galleries, and festival activities, the arts were thriving with RedBall overlooking. There was a fantastic turnout for the evening events, which was enjoyable to all and showed everyone in their best light.